Modular & Wheel-Hub Integrated SiC Inverter for Commercial Vehicles
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB Schottkystrasse 10 91058 Erlangen, Germany Contact www.iisb.fraunhofer.de
Dipl.-Ing. Florian Hilpert Tel.: +49 9131 761-122 [email protected]
COSIVU Project
The EU-funded project 'COSIVU' (COmpact
Smart and reliable drIVe Unit for
commercial electric vehicles) aims at new
system architectures for electric drive-trains
by developing a smart, compact, modular,
and durable in-wheel drive unit. The main
goals for the mechatronic integration
concept of the COSIVU Inverter is to
provide easy servicing of the complete
powerstage, good manufacturability, and
flexibility due to the modular approach.
This helps to increase the durability and
availability of hybrid and electric vehicles,
which are even more demanding for
commercial vehicles than for other types of
vehicles. The new architecture is also
adapted to a passenger car platform.
Inverter Building Block
Main component of the modular
integration approach is a newly designed
Inverter Building Block (IBB). The IBB is a
mechanically self-supporting structure with
optimized commutating cell and all
necessary components to drive one half-
bridge of the inverter system. It consists of a
cooling plate, three parallel half-bridge
1200V SiC BJT power modules, each with
its own base driver module (including
isolated driver supply), the AC-current-
sensor, and its own foil DC-link-capacitor.
The whole structure can be pre-assembled
and tested prior to the integration in an
overall inverter system.
Technical Data
Modular Inverter Design
Consequently, three IBBs are necessary to
drive one three phase electric motor. With
the modular design of the powerstage,
easy adaption to different designspaces is
possible, while using identical system
architecture and not affecting the internal
commutating cell of each half bridge. The
compact design of the IBB also gives
availability to design up to six-phase
inverter systems.
Making use of latest SiC BJT developments,
test results showed a significant reduction
in inverter losses compared to competitive
Si based inverter solutions.
Acknowledgement
The work has been performed in the
research project 'COSIVU', funded by the
European Commission under grant
agreement number 313980.
Max. output power 290 kVA
Nom. input voltage range
600 VDC to 800 VDC
Max. phase current
300 Arms
Switching frequency
10 kHz to 16 kHz
Max. junction temperature
175 °C
Topology Modular B6
Inverter building block
Modular system architecture
“Plug’n’Play” interface
Commercial vehicle wheel-hub drivetrain
Passenger car inverter version